If you’ve ever been in a scary situation, or had the fear that a dangerous circumstance was about to develop, you know what an awful feeling it can be. Some dangerous occurrences, I am sure, can leave a mark on people. Your safety is not something you should ever take lightly. Thankfully, with the developments in technology nowadays, new gadgets are coming out of the woodwork, giving us options in contributing to personal safety.

Smartwatches and other wearable devices are a new fad lately. They can communicate information to the wearer on things like heart rate, steps taken, etc. So why can’t we have wearable devices that help keep us safer? Well, the answer is, there are. One such device is called the First Sign Hair Clip.

A small, three-person start-up in Arizona developed this nifty little device. It is a gadget that looks and even acts as a hair clip, but while wearing it, if a dangerous situation arises it is activated. The first question one may ask is, how does this clip know when a situation is dangerous?

Well, there are environmental cues that the clip can pick up on, actions that may seem unusual and abrupt, like kicking and jerky movements that would indicate the assault.

After the device has entered into danger mode, through an app and using Bluetooth it activates your camera, GPS and the microphone. After 15 seconds, if the clip hasn’t been turned off as a false alarm, the information recorded is sent to a monitor who can assess the material and determine whether the assault is in fact a dangerous situation. If yes, emergency contacts are immediately notified of the situation. A gadget like this may help the victim get help in time to save them and/or can assist in identifying attackers for later purposes.

Now I know what you’re thinking; how accurate can this gadget be? Will it turn on if you’re simply out for a run due to the movement? Apparently, the First Sign Hair Clip is pretty accurate and has been made to differentiate between every day physical activity and a dangerous assault.

One negative thing that can be said is that the piece looks pretty ugly, to be frank. It looks like a cheap little hair clip that my grandmother would be found sporting, or perhaps a school teacher from the 80’s. However, that is something that is being worked on by other companies as well. Looks like First Sign needs to step up their game in the looks department before their competition catches up.

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